USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 11
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In 1870, in connection with Dr. Vallandigham, and R. C. Hudson, was appointed by Governor Leslie to take measures preparatory to the erection of a house of refuge. These three gentlemen took the matter in hand in a business manner, and after visiting various State institu- tions of the kind purchased a plan of the present building from an architect at Lancaster, Ohio, and erected the main building, one hundred and twenty by sixty feet, superintending the work themselves. In 1872 it was decided by the State authorities that the house should be changed in its purposes and made an asylum for the insane of this portion of the State, since which time
Mr. Garr has been one of its officers, serving in the capacity of commissioner until 1879, when the board made him, in honor of his fit- ness and distinguished services, president of the institution.
In the capacity of president of the asylum Mr. Garr serves the interests of the State free of charge, and devotes much of his time at the in- stitution. His presence among the inmates is always a welcome one to them; he has a kind word and a cheerful manner for them all, and the interest manifested in their welfare, and the frequent generous donations made from his bounty to alleviate,their wants, not only endcars him to them as their worthy friend and benefac- tor, but entitles him to an everlasting regard on the part of the great State of Kentucky.
Mr. Garr has also been a successful fruit grower, some years before and since the war. His large farm, embracing the Southern Hope nurseries, is well adapted in soil and means of propagation to raise thrifty, healthy and vigorous trees, and his twenty years and more experience in testing fruits, and in their cultivation, and careful attention to business, merits the extensive patronage he receives everywhere. His stock embraces fruit and ornamental trees, small fruits, vines, trees, roses, etc., of the most approved varieties and those most worthy of general culti- vation, and he recommends nothing till he has found it worthy, and is satisfied with its merits after he has tested in his grounds.
A. G. HERR,
proprietor of the fine, large and valuable Mag- nolia stock farm, is a son of Hon. John Herr, Jr., once a member of the State Legislature, and for forty years a magistrate of his precinct, and grandson of John Herr, one of the most promi- nent of the early settlers of Jefferson county. He was born on the Magnolia stock farm, near Lyndon, December 30, 1840, and although yet but a young man, has been instrumental in effect- ing such changes and making improvements for the public good, that his record of the past indellibly stamps him as a progressive and public spirited citizen of the county. He has spent his whole life on the place he was born, receiving a
AVENUE TO RESIDENCE.
MAGNOLIA STOCK FARM. RESIT
FAMILY CEMETERY.
EOF A. G. HERR, LYNDON P. O., JEFFERSON CO., KY.
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
good common school education in his father's district.
After becoming of age, and having a voice in those things affecting the public welfare, he turned his attention to the much needed im- provements of highways-a matter that should have received attention many years previous. He first forced the issue upon the people for the opening up of a pike from St. Matthews east, a distance of three and a half miles. He met with considerable opposition in regard to this enterprise, but obtained a charter from the State government, and then undertook to build it by taxation, then by subscription, but the burden of the work and outlay rested upon him alone, and after it was finished at a cost of six- teen thousand dollars, he donated the road to the Shelbyville & Goose Creek Turnpike com- pany, who erected gates, charge toll, and keep it in repair.
During the same year (1873) he also forced a county road from Lyndon station, through farms to Goose Creek turnpike, thence through farms to Brownsboro pike, thence to the river, a dis- tance of six miles.
As much as the improvements on highways were needed, there was not such disposition to assist Mr. Herr as there probably should have been at the time, and in these matters he was left to carry the work through himself, or let it go by default. He chose to do the former, and to- day is gratefully held in remembrance for per- forming his duty.
In 1877, he built an elegant little structure for a school-house, located it to suit the convenience of his neighbors, and paid the cost-eight hundred dollars-out of his own pocket.
Mr. Herr is best known by the people of the county, and by the fancy stock men of the United States by the Magnolia stock farm he owns.
This farm consists of two hundred and six acres of land of the best quality, and was thus named by George D. Prentice forty years ago, from the quantity of magnolias that grew upon it. Mr. Herr established the farm-upon the basis it is now run, in 1864, and built the magnifi- cent mansion in' 1877. It is a double house, square in form, two stories and attic, with a hall, eighteen feet in width.
His farm is stocked with thorough breeds from
a horse down to an imported goose. Here may be found the finest display of Jersey cattle, Yorkshire hogs, Silesian Merino sheep, as well as horses for the race track or trotting match, and a magnificent display of poultry.
He has lately sold two cows for fifteen hundred dollars each. He also sold, a short time since, four calves and three cows for the snug sum of thirty-seven hundred and twenty-five dollars, the highest price ever paid west of the Alleghanies.
He frequently attends the St. Louis exhibition of fine stock, and generally carries off rich rewards in the way of medals and prizes.
He used to regard fifty dollars as a good price for a hog, but has since that time paid as high as fifteen hundred dollars for a sow.
In 1879 Mr. Herr was appointed by Governor Blackburn as one of the commissioners of the Central Kentucky Lunatic asylum. This appoint- ment was received after the Governor had made a tour amongst the various institutions of the State, and was convinced that the institution and the interests of the State were being sadly neg- lected, and determined on making a radical change in the board of commissioners, and know- ing A. G. Herr's indefatigable energy as a public- spirited man, and having every reason to believe that this neglect would be immediately obviated by appointing him as one of the commissioners did so. The wisdom of this appointment we will soon see.
After Mr. Herr received his appointment he inspected the premises and its workings, and discovered that the institution was entirely at the mercy of the Short Line railroad, as to the trans- portation of its freights.
On the one article of coal it was not only pay- ing freight on eighty or ninety thousand bushels of that commodity per year from Louisville to Anchorage, but two and a half cents per bushel to cart it from the latter place to the asylum, a distance of one and a half miles. The former board had made the Short Line railroad a prop- osition to connect the asylum with the road, and the lowest bid was $13,000. This did not suit Mr. Herr, and determining to bring the Short Line to better terms, decided that the institution should do its own hauling, and that he would build two and a half miles of pike, and con- · nect the asylum with the Goose Creek pike, making in this way good connection with Louis-
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
ville. This was too much for the railroad, and the company decided that they would furnish iron and cross ties and labor to complete the road to the engine-house at the asylum without cost, if the institution would do the grading, and say nothing about the $13,000.
This connection not only saves the State $9,000 in completing the road (the grading cost- ing the sum of $4,000), but it is a permanent saving to the State in carting eighty thousand bushels of coal each year, which at two and a half cents per bushel would amount to $2,000 annually.
Mr. Herr was married the 2d of November, 1860, to Miss Mattie E. Guthrie, daughter of James Guthrie, of Henry county, and has had by this marriage four children, two boys and two girls-Ada, Fannie, James Guthrie, and A. G. Herr, Jr.
EDWARD D. HOBBS,
engineer, railroad president, and agriculturist, was born in 1810, in Jefferson county, Kentucky. He was educated mainly in Louisville, his family having removed to that city in 1820; from 1830 to 1835 he was engaged as city engineer; was the founder of the Louisville Savings institution; es- tablished the first real estate agency in that city; in 1840 removed to his farm, near Anchorage; was elected to the Legislature in 1843, and was twice re-elected; was elected to the State Senate without opposition in 1847, but resigned before the expiration of the term; was president of the Louisville & Frankfort railroad company from 1855 to 1867, and administered the affairs of that road with great ability, being one of the most successful railroad men in Kentucky.
In 1867 he retired to his farm and has since devoted his attention mainly to agricultural pur- suits, giving much of his time to horticulture and fruit growing. Although an invalid for a great part of his life, before he was thirty years of age he had accumulated a considerable fortune.
Religiously he is associated with the Methodist Episcopal church, and has been noted for his integrity of character, his sound judgment and business skill, and is universally beloved and es- teemed as one of the most energetic and valuable men in this part of Kentucky.
Mr. Hobbs was married, December 4, 1832, to Miss Henning, daughter of Samuel Henning, the brother of James W. Henning, of Louisville. In 1839 he was married to Miss Craig, daughter of John D. Craig, of Georgetown, Kentucky, and from this marriage has five living children.
ANDREW HOKE.
One of the oldest living representatives of Jef- fersontown precinct is Andrew Hoke. He was born in this precinct November 17, 1801, and although in the eighty-first year of his age he still continues to make a hand at the plow or in the harvest field. His health and strength are living examples to attest the virtue of a life when temperate in all things. His memory is remark . ably good and singularly clear for one of his age. He is a descendant of one Jacob Hoke, who emigrated to the colonies in an early day from Germany. His grandfather, Andrew Hoke, par- ticipated in the battle of Trenton, on that event- ful Christmas day when Washington crossed the Delaware and captured a thousand Hessians-a stroke so bold, an event so important, as to in- delibly impress it on the student of American history. He was at Braddock's defeat and surrender, and saw it all. Andrew Hoke and his family came to Kentucky in 1795, in November of that year, and settled, first in a log hut near where Andrew Hoke now lives, and afterwards built a stone house. The log house stood on the old dirt road leading from Louisville to Jeffersontown. The stone house stif stands. His grandfather, Andrew Hoke, purchased about four hundred acres of land from Colonel Frede- rick Geiger, and after building his house lived in it until 1800, when he died. He had two sons, Jacob and Peter. Jacob, the father of the sub- ject of this sketch, who married Catherine Ris- singer, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, built the stone house now occupied by William O. Ragland, in 1799. He had three sons-John, now in the eighty-second year of his age, is deaf and dumb. Jacob, the youngest, moved to Indiana in 1831, and died in 1866. John, the oldest, is the pic- ture of health, and enjoys life, notwithstanding his affliction. He attended the Danville Institu- tion for the Deaf and Dumb for a period of
Elias Maisey.
Andrea Mchis
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
three years. He makes his home with his brother Andrew.
Andrew Hoke has been married four times. His first wife was Miss Julia Susan Funk. They were married the 27th of August, 1824, and had in all six children. Three only are now living --- Mary, Henry, and John. The second wife was Elizabeth Yenawine, to whom he was married the 5th day of March, 1835. Of this union one child, Edward, is living. He was married again on the 8th of July, 1841, to Caroline Hummel, who died on the 22d of July the year following. He was married the fourth time to Caroline Ma- tilda Folk, who still lives. Of these children Robert H., Fannie L., Emory, and William A. are living. Robert H. and Fannie L. are married. Mr. Hoke built his house in 1828. The structure, which was made of brick, is still in very good condition. Mr. Hoke was one of the movers in the Taylorville turnpike road, and is still one of the directors of the company. He has been for a number of years a member of the Presbyterian church, and has shown in the long, eventful life he has lived, the virtue there is in Christianity. He lives within the quiet re- treat of his own home circle, owes no man a dol lar, is in peace with his neighbor, and is ready at the proper time to pass over.
LEAVEN LAWRENCE DORSEY,
one of the oldest living representatives of Gilman precinct, was born in Maryland, December 31, 1799. His father, Edward Dorsey, came with his family to Jefferson county about the year 18ro, and settled upon a tract of land at O'Ban- non station, where Mr. Dorsey also moved after his marriage with Susan O'Bannon, January 25, 1820. Miss O'Bannon was a native of Virginia. Her father moved to this State when she was but ten or twelve years old. She is still living, but the infirmities of old age have gradually · crept upon her, until now she is an invalid. Mr. Dorsey has been helpless during the past eighteen years.
About the year 1838 they settled upon a large tract of three or four hundred acres of land, where they reside at the present time, one and a half miles from Lyndon station, and where
Mr. Dorsey erected a large, elegant residence at that time.
Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey have been members of the Methodist church for full three score years. They have always been quiet citizens, unobtru- sive in their manners, caring aught save living holy, Christian lives. There are three children living from this union-Eveline, Mary, and Bush- rod-all married. The former married Dr. G. W. Bashaw, and lives near Lyndon station, and is now enjoying a retired life. The second daughter is a widow.
Mr. I .. B. Dorsey was born January 31, 1828, and was married October 25, 1860, to Miss Sallie E. Herndon, of Henry county, Kentucky, and from this union has eight children; the eldest daughter, Mrs. Susie Winchester, is the only one married. Mr. Dorsey and family are members of the Christian church. He resides on the old Dorsey homestead.
ALANSON MOORMAN,
son of D. Moorman, was born in Campbell county, Virginia, November 18, 1803, being the youngest child of four sons and four daughters. His father was born in Albemarle county, Vir- ginia, December 15, 1762, and was of English descent, and of a name purely Saxon in origin, "Moor," signifying the commons or prairies of that country, and "man" of, or "Moorman," as is given in the highest book of British authority on the derivation of English names. The deriva- tion of most names is from place or occupation.
In the Royal Heraldic office in London may be found a certified copy of the heraldry of the family. This goes to show that the family was respectable, in what we may term ancient times, there being no heraldic designs or family records of the serfs or lower classes. The Moorman motto on their coat of arms is Esse quam rideri, " To be, not seem to be." The name is spelled in the coat of arms as it is now, viz: Moorman. The descendants of this family are numerous, and are found both in England and America, and without exception a very respectable class. Some are in government affairs, some following professional pursuits, and others agriculture, trade, and commerce. Long before the Revolu- tionary war, to avoid Quaker persecutions, two
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
brothers of this family emigrated to America, and settled in one of the southeast counties of Virginia. Their descendants emigrated to the counties of Albemarle, Campbell, Bedford, and other counties of the State.
There is a river in Albemarle county known as the Moorman river.
The family in Virginia is now most numerous in Campbell and Bedford counties, though many of the same name live in other counties of the State, and the numerous heads of families now scattered through the Middle, Southern, and Western - States, are descendants of the two brothers previously noticed.
D. Moorman, father of Alanson Moorman, was married to Elizabeth Heth, February 15, 1785, and raised from this union a family of eight children. D. Moorman moved to Kentucky from Albemarle county, Virginia, in 1807, and settled on the Ohio river, above Bradenburg, then Hardin county, now Meade, about forty
miles below Louisville, then a comparative wilder- ness. The family was large. Then the country was but sparsely settled, while here and there a roving band of Indians were seen frequently. The employment then was for years in clearing up the forest that they inight have corn-meal for bread. Fish were abundant, as was the wild game in the woods.
Upon arriving at manhood Mr. Moorman mar- ried Rachael Steth, daughter of Benjamin and Phoebe Steth, and has raised up seven sons and three daughters.
In 1861 he sold out his Meade county posses- sions, and settled upon a large tract of land near Valley Station. He and his son also own an orange grove in Florida which is now becoming valuable.
Mr. Moorman has been very successful in every undertaking in his life. His sons are now carrying on farming, and he himself has retired from active pursuits of life.
Alanson Hariman.
Mas Rachel V. Moorman.
Clarke and Floud Counties, Indiana
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OUTLINE MAP CLARK"> FLOYD
COUNTIES, IND
SCOTT
O
0.
JEFFERSON CO.
Marysville
WASHINGTON
Merryville
New Washington
NER
O E
BORREGON'
BETHLEHEM ThBethlehem
otisco
H
Memphisa
Wewy Provi
CARR Muddy Fark
CHARLESTOWN Herculaneum
W
Charlestown
Bennetsville
Petersbury
-Ja Scottsville
SILVER Salersburg
FGREEK
Hàm bằng
UTICA
IGREENVILLE
Watson
LAYFAYETTE
NEW
Galeria
Utical
Graysvikten 1
GEORGE TOWN Georgetown
JEFFERSONVILLE
NEW ALBANY
JEFFERSONVILLE
KENTUCKY
HARRISON CO.
Edwardsville
Portland
FRANIEDIN Buchanan
JEFFERSO
3Oregon
SHELBY CO.
CO.
INGTON
Hiberia
OWW E-N
Germany
CO.
OLDHAM
Greenville
- Mooresville
ALBANY
GENERAL HISTORY.
CHAPTER I. GEOLOGY OF CLARKE AND FLOYD COUNTIES.1 A GENERAL VIEW.
The counties of Clarke and Floyd are divided by a line extending from the point of union of Clarke, Washington, Floyd, and Harrison coun- ties, in a southeasterly direction to its intersec- tion with Silver creek, and thence along this stream to its junction with the Ohio river. They are bounded on the north by Jefferson and Scott counties, on the west by Washington and Har- rison, and on the south and east by the Ohio river.
The geological series represented within this territory probably embraces a larger range of strata than is found in any other portion of the State Beginning with the upper beds of the Cincinnati group of the Lower Silurian, as seen in the northeastern part of Clarke county, it includes all the intermediate formations to the pentremital limestone of the sub-carboniferous at Greenville, in the western portion of Floyd county. The rock strata of this district were originally deposited horizontally, but at present are very much elevated in the northeastern bor- der on the Ohio river. These formations have the appearance of having been built up from the southwest, resting uniformly one upon the other, the lower always reaching farther east than the formation immediately above, thus pre- senting to the geologist, on a grand scale, a wide field for investigation. The outcrop of so many different formations in this field is doubtless owing to the Cincinnati uplift and to the effect of erosion, which has constantly been doing its work in wearing away the strata.
Life abounded in the ancient Silurian sea which
once covered the territory through which a portion of the Ohio river and some of its affluents now flow, between corn covered hills. The coral reefs of these ancient seas are now seen as limestone beds, covered with the stems and heads, and long, gracefully waving and delicately fringed aims, which belong to forms of a life so old that the most exalted imagination of the poet and geologist can have no adequate concep- tion of the lapse of time since they were pos- sessed of life.
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY IN DETAIL.
The lowest series of rocks exposed in the dis- trict of Clarke and Floyd counties is seen in the northeastern part of the former county. The upper strata of the Cincinnati group here out- crops at the mouth of Begg's run on the Ohio river, on tract No. 77, Illinois Grant, one mile and a half north of Fourteen Mile creek. Begg's run is fed by springs at the summit of the bluff, some three hundred feet above the Ohio river. The stream, by constant abrasion, has worn a narrow and romantic channel through strata after strata to the river. In this locality the rock is a hard, shaly, blue limestone, carrying an abun- dance of characteristic fossils, which are exposed at extreme low water. The following section was obtained immediately below the entrance of this stream into the river :
Corniferous limestone, 12 feet; yellow rock, magnesian limestone, 20 feet; " Grandad " lime- stone, used for building purposes, 4 feet; gray crystalline limestone, Niagara, 14 feet; crinoidal bed, 6 feet; magnesian limestone, 20 feet; blue and yellow clay shale, 8 feet; stratified magnesian limestone, 75 feet; blue shaly marlite, 100 feet; dark blue shaly limestone, Cincinnati group, 20 feet-total, 279 feet.
The upper part of this section, from No. 6 up ward, corresponds with the section at Utica, in Clarke county, where the rocks are quarried for
*Abridged from the accounts of Dr. E. T. Cox and Pro- fessor William W. Borden, in the State Geological Reports, with important corrections by the kindness of Major W. T. Davis, of Louisville.
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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
lime and building purposes. The bluffs are here capped with corniferous limestone.
The outcrop of the Cincinnati group here first exposed is on Camp creek; fourteen miles farther up the river it is one hundred and eighty feet above the bed of Camp creek, and two hundred and fifty feet above low water in the Ohio. The elevation of the strata from that point to Marble Hill, six miles distant, and on the line of Jeffer- son county, will add about fifty feet more to this number. The magnesian limestone, which com- prises the bluffs on the river below the latter point, becomes the surface rock at many places on the bank of Camp creek, and is in detached masses fifteen to twenty feet thick, and liable at any time, as their foundations wear away, to be precipitated into the valley below.
The characters of the Madison rocks, which belong to the Cincinnati group as exposed on the bluffs of Camp creek, are a thin, stratified, dark-blue crystalline limestone, with intermediate layers of a lighter-colored, coarse-grained lime- stone. At this point this formation carries an abundance of characteristic fossils. The Marble Hill marble stratum is also recognized here by its fossils, although in a disintegrating state. The beds of the Cincinnati formation are here well exposed. The dip of the strata in this region is to the southwest at the rate of about 22 feet to the mile. In places along the banks of the Ohio river the rocks show in magnificent cliffs, some 200 or 300 feet high.
The Marble Hill stone was formerly much used for building, but has long ceased to be em- ployed for this purpose. The lines of light yel- low in the interstices and between the shells, being composed of a salt of iron, which is oxi- dized on exposure, destroys the value of this stone. The best tests of building stone are mois- ture, atmosphere, freezing, and thawing. Although this stone has not proven to be valuable for out- door work, it is well adapted for inside ornamen- tation, and may be worked into mantels, table- tops, and other useful articles. It takes a good polish and is quite handsome, being filled with fossil spiral shells, which appear in fine contrast with its dark ground.
THE CLINTON GROUP.
Immediately overlying the rocks of the Cin- cinnati formation is occasionally found a gray
and yellow stratified sandstone, which probably belongs to the Clinton group of the Ohio and New York geologists. It varies greatly. Some- times it is soft, and at other times hard, and difficult to work. Its thickness averages twenty feet. It occurs at the summit of the ridge at Camp creek, and continues to Marble Hill.
THE NIAGARA GROUP.
The rocks belonging to this epoch are so called from their appearance in great force at Niagara Falls. They are conspicuously displayed in Clarke county along the line of the Ohio river, and occasionally occur in the neighborhood of Charlestown, the county seat. The lowest out- crop of the Niagara is seen at extreme low water on the falls of the Ohio, near the whirlpool on the Indiana side. A characteristic Halysites catenulatus, or chain coral, is here occasionally obtained. These rocks extend in a northeast- erly direction to Utica, on the Ohio river, seven miles above, where they are quarried for the manufacture of lime. Some further notice of them is made in connection with our history of that township. The "yellow rock" here forming the top of the Niagara appears to be a magnesian limestone. At the head of Begg's run it is weath- ered into large, irregularly shaped masses, pre- senting on the bluffs a columnar and castellated appearance, which in some instances resembles the ruins of an ancient temple. One well-poised block, six feet in diameter, is termed "the head of the corner." This, with two other limestones of the Utica quarry, was used in building the great railway bridge at Louisville.
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